hulu

If you're a fan of Hulu's subscription service, but hate the fact that you are still forced to watch advertisements even when paying $7.99 a month for the existing premium tier (formerly known as "Plus"), good news may be on the way. As long as you don't mind paying a little more, that is. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Hulu is looking into offering a more expensive tier that would have no ads whatsoever.

Chicago is about to become a little less welcoming to cord cutters, with the city authorizing an 'amusement tax' on online streaming services like Netflix and Pandora. Under this, subscribers are going to be paying a 9-percent tax on their various cloud-based streaming entertainment services, as well as for the 'privilege' of playing games online. This is the expansion of the existing amusement tax which was previously applied to things like buying concert tickets, and it will apply to businesses as well.

Among Hulu's latest efforts is a new deal with Pluto TV that will see the service's free content made available in what is described as a "TV-like programming grid". This will be a re-packaging of Hulu’s free content, meaning the content it provides on an ad-supported basis rather than exclusively through its subscription model, and includes both movies and TV shows. Shows will be coming from Fox, ABC, and NBC among others. Furthermore, the shared content will only be viewable on Pluto TV's online site, not mobile devices.

Hulu, though still maligned for showing advertisements to paying subscribers, has done impressive work when it comes to expanding its library, and it has boasting rights as the current and future home of many well-known shows. Now the service has announced in conjunction with Showtime a new ‘first’ — the ability for Hulu subscribers to subscribe to and access Showtime’s own service. Under this partnership, those who sign up can access the Showtime content via the Hulu app, meaning the content will be available on an expansive lineup of devices. Says Hulu, the Showtime shows can be streamed "the moment they air".

Subscribers to TiVo will soon find themselves able to connect via the web to recorded TV content with TiVo Online. DVR recordings of live TV streams will be given some wider breadth for viewing with TiVo Online, while the brand will also give users the option to connect to the shows they enjoy through alternate services. Click on the Simpsons, for example, and find links to Hulu and Fox. UPDATE: This service is up and running now, and provides services to both TiVo subscribers and those in search of an internet-based TV show and movie portal extraordinaire.

Late last month it was revealed that Hulu will be the exclusive streaming home of Seinfeld, and though we found out at the time that it would arrive in June, a specific date was not provided. Today that changed: Hulu says that you will be able to stream episodes of Seinfeld on the service starting June 26, leaving a little over one month of waiting. Rumor has it Hulu paid more than $500,000 USD per episode for the streaming deal.

Reality TV shows and "unscripted" shows are on their way out, so says the chief content officer at Netflix. Speaking at an investor conference this past week, Netflix' chief content officer Ted Sarandos suggested that "the kind of disposable nature of reality, basically doesn't have much of a long shelf life. It hasn't been a great category for us." As the reality television show dies, so re-rises the scripted show and Netflix Originals series like The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and House of Cards.

Hulu has decided to make recently cancelled "The Mindy Project" one of its exclusives, it has been announced. Following its cancellation by Fox, the series has been picked up by Hulu which has ordered a fourth season of episodes -- 26 episodes to be exact, which is actually about two seasons' worth. Regardless, the show will continue where it has left off, only now as a streamable digital offering rather than a traditional cable show. It isn't clear when the season will launch.

AT&T and Hulu have announced a new (expanded) partnership between the two that will bring video streaming content from the latter to AT&T’s own subscribers — both on the web and on their mobile devices. The two companies have previously had a deal that brings some content to the carrier’s subscribers, but under this they will be presented with more content through an AT&T app and, possibly, through a future Hulu app for TVs. The pair announced the expanded partnership today.

Hulu has been tipped in the acquisition of a television show based on the classic video game Myst. The television show will reportedly be a drama coming from Legendary Television, with Evan Daugherty (Divergent’s writer) and producer Matt Tolmach (The Amazing Spider-Man, among others) both being on board. At this point there’s said to be a script to series commitment in place, following Legendary Television’s own acquisition of Myst rights last year. Neither company has commented on the rumored plan at this point.